Counter-Strike: Global Offensive console review

Counter Strike has a massive following. It’s been a huge hit in the PC community for 12 years and finally comes to consoles (not counting the original and quite terrible Xbox release) for some intense multiplayer action. But how does the game stack up on Xbox 360 and PS3? Almost perfectly.

There aren’t more intense shooting games around than Counter Strike. With realistic damage, quick rounds, and purchasable weapons and gear, this game will get your blood pumping. Counter Strike’s main game mode doesn’t feature respawns which makes every move you make matter that much more. One bad move and your turn is over until the next round. The game is based on a money system, do good and you can buy better weapons, armor and grenades. Do poorly however and you’ll be relegated to using pistols and flashbangs.

Counter Strike: GO has 4 different game modes, Arms Race, Demolition, Classic Casual and Classic Competitive. Classic Casual and Competitive are the same game mode with different rules and variants. In the competitive variant, friendly fire and team collision are turned on and you have to buy armor and bomb defuse kits. These are also best of 30 rounds, perfect for displaying your dominance. The casual version turns friendly fire and team collision off, gives you more money to buy weapons, and gives everyone armor and bomb defuse kits. These games are also much faster, only being best out of 10 rounds.

You'll take sides as either the terrorists, tasked with planting a bomb and covering it before the other team can defuse it, or the counter terrorist team, trying to eliminate their opposition without allowing them to blow the place up. The Demolition game type is similar to the classic mode except you don’t buy weapons; you earn them in the beginning of the match.

Arms Race is a new game type in which you get a new weapon for each kill you get. Think Call of Duty: Black Op’s Gun Game. You get the new weapon instantly and there are instant respawns, the only game type to offer that. This is also a team-based game where friendly fire is enabled so you have to be careful and not shoot at everything that moves. The game is over when one person on either team gets a kill with all of the weapons.

This version of Counter Strike runs off of Valve’s Source system, which gives the graphics a much better look, even though the Source engine is quite dated. Counter Strike was never known for its graphics, but they do look polished. Hit markers also seem perfect, which means if you were aiming at someones head and missed, you have no one to blame but yourself. Game play was also lag-free playing with full teams, which is always nice on launch day.

Counter Strike has always had top-notch gameplay and the console versions don’t disappoint. Using the Dualshock 3 controller felt natural for Global Offensive, which is impressive for a game known for using a keyboard and mouse. Speaking of, the PS3 version lets you use a keyboard and mouse against people using the standard controller, a feature not available on the Xbox 360 version. Yes, you read that right, you're actually able to play using a mouse and keyboard on your PS3. Mind blown.

Aside from being available on Steam, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is available on both PSN and XBLA for a mere $15. For this price, Counter Strike is a must have if you were either a fan of the original, or just love death. This game offers multiplayer that rivals Call of Duty for 1/4th the price. If you’re a fan of first person or tactical shooters, you owe it to yourself to download this immediately.